Jaydium by Deborah J. Ross Page A

tunnels,” he said.
    â€œI’m sorry, I must have misunderstood you,” Brianna blinked. “Did you say... jaydium?”
    â€œMaybe you call it something else and your translator garbled the meaning,” Eril suggested.
    â€œI’ve never heard of the stuff before,” said Lennart.
    â€œI know what jaydium is.” Brianna got to her feet and began to pace. “Everyone knows that faster-than-light spaceflight requires jaydium. The Dominion wouldn’t exist without it. Slow-light generation makes the relativity warp impossible. But how could it be here? ”
    â€œWhere else?” Eril said, startled. “This is the only place it’s found. That’s why the Federation kept the spacelanes open through the war.”
    â€œOnly place?” Brianna paused, her eyes widening. “Oh no, our surveys would never have missed it or released this planet for scientific study if there were even the remotest possibility. Don’t you realize how rare — and how essential, how irreplaceable — jaydium is?”
    â€œWhere does yours come from?” Lennart asked mildly.
    Brianna lowered her eyes.
    â€œAnd you asked us to trust you,” Kithri said.
    Brianna looked up, stung. “Not here. It’s restricted to two planets, the most heavily guarded in the Dominion Sphere.”
    â€œOh!” Kithri laughed humorlessly. “That’s not so bad. In our world, it’s found on only one planet. But I bet you don’t pay your miners any better.”
    Brianna looked puzzled for a moment before saying, “If there’s a new source of jaydium here, we can’t leave it undefended. Come on, I’ll take you back to my camp and call the Institute authorities.”

Chapter 11
    Kithri followed Eril and Brianna through the shadowed parkland, Lennart at her side. The short grass cushioned her step and gave off a tangy smell. She glanced up at the stars but they were blotted out across half the sky. In the other direction, one moon burned stark and white through a rift in the clouds. The first cool drops of rain spattered her face.
    Rain! Memories flooded up in her that last evening on Albion, walking in the pastel twilight through a field of tall, waving skyflowers. She’d stayed out until the rain had washed away her tears and she was soaked to the skin. Her father hadn’t said a word.
    â€œHurry!” called Brianna. She’d been heading toward the city, but now she veered off into a clump of low trees. Dense foliage blocked all but a gentle mist and the faintest dappling of moonlight. Low branches pressed in on both sides, forcing them to go single file.
    Kithri walked slowly, feeling her way through the near darkness. Her moment of astonished joy at the rainfall had vanished. It was difficult to hurry and think at the same time, especially when a chorus of contradictory voices took up residence in her skull.
    How do I know this Dominion isn’t just as bad as the Fifth Fed? one part of her said. I’ll probably end up stranded on some backdust world that’s even worse than Stayman.
    I should’ve insisted on staying behind with ‘Wacker, another part grumbled. Who knows what might happen to it out there?
    And yet, to see the Dominion woman’s camp, to ride in her ships, maybe to reach those stars that were so like the ones she’d dreamed of...
    Kithri tripped on a knotted tree root, caught herself and swore under her breath. Lennart, who was walking behind her, hooked one hand under her elbow to steady her.
    â€œTh-thank you.”
    â€œMy pleasure.”
    Your...pleasure?
    She wasn’t sure what to say to Lennart, caught between a flood of questions about his world and an irrational fear of revealing to Brianna how little they knew each other, as if that were a fatal weakness. Miserably, she turned back to her deliberations.
    Everyone else is so pleased by what’s happening, and all I think about is the